Except for flying or driving which is the best way to get from the East Coast to Florida? I've never been south of Virginia, so I don't know how good the public transport is. I'm on a budget, so should I stop off somewhere like Atlanta, Virginia or Texas to break up the journey. I've looked up the coach and train and most are 29 hours. Any advice?
Where exactly are you going from and will you be alone? With the cost of tolls, gas, and a likely overnight stop, it's probably going to end up being cheaper to fly believe it or not, especially if you are able to be flexible about your days and times of travel. I'd be able to give a much better guess/estimate if I knew where exactly you were headed there from.
We recently went from South-central NY state to northeastern FL. We were towing our camper so we were driving a large gas-guzzling truck. Our gas costs AND campground fees for the round trip were roughly the equivalent of 1.5 plane tickets. Since our family has 3 people and a dog, driving was better. We also took a rideshare for a section of the trip who contributed to gas money. If you're looking to save money driving, let the highway bypasses skirt you out around the major cities and then pick a hotel or motel in a mid-way town where they're cheaper. Also if you're comfortable with the idea, you can check out rideshare sites and/or uship.com. Sometimes you can transport a pet or small item for a fee to cover some of your costs. did you check the megabus website? You have to bounce between major cities and switch buses more often than greyhound but SOMETIMES the total trip price is lower. Most major cities have excellent public transportation to get you to and from a hotel mid-journey if needed. Also remember that you can do a combination of train/bus. The terminals are often close together. Perhaps it's cheaper to get to Philadelphia by grayhound bus and then amtrak from philadelphia to atlanta and megabus from Atlanta to Jacksonville (which is only like $13 for a mid-week one-way trip in January). Another thing to consider is a train with a sleeper car is often cheaper than bus with hotels and more comfortable than trying to sleep on the bus.
Taking the bus can be a longer trip but a cheaper trip than flying or driving. I have taken the bus from ATL to DC, it is a 10hr trip but I travel at night so I can sleep the whole way without a lot of stops. When do you need to travel, it is cheaper during the week than weekend.
Well I am very flexible and when I say East Coast it can be New York or Boston as I have friends and family in both. I also have a friend in Virginia, but would rather travel and get to Florida without too many stops. I like the idea of ride shares, so if anyone can recommend this it would be good. I have looked at Megabus and Greyhound and they all go through D.C., VA, Atlanta, LA and TX roughly. Flying maybe cheaper, but I'm looking at all options as I am traveling alone and I don't drive. The fares are about $90-99 for a one way from NY to Florida but with at least 2 changes and stops.
